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Germany slams door on mergers

June 26, 2009

Germany’s federal cartel office has confirmed it won't be changing its mind on banning the merger of the main three MSOs KDG, Unity and Kabel BW. It also made it clear it would also disallow a merger between any two of them. In a swipe at the companies now struggling investors, the president of the cartel Bernd Heitzer told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “It is not our job to the secure business affairs of private equity companies”

However the cartel office did say it would look at allowing a national cable broadband brand and pricing offer – so cable can compete with telco offers – but it draws the line at an equity merger.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Cable, Regulation